Fresh Herb Breakfast Sausage Recipe

Almost every breakfast sausage recipe relies on dried herbs and spices for its flavor, but a very good product can be made with fresh herbs too.

Fresh herbs give the sausage a whole different quality but, depending on where you live and the time of the year, it can sometimes be difficult to find them.

My wife actually grows her own herbs, and when they are in season we especially like to make this recipe.

5 lbs 80% lean boneless pork shoulder

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary (leaves only)

2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage (leaves only)

2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme (leaves only)

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon sugar (white or light brown)

Trim the pork, cut it into 1 inch cubes, and grind it through the fine plate of your meat grinder.

Make sure to very finely chop all of the herbs or they won't distribute evenly through the sausage.

Combine the spices and herbs with the ground meat and mix very thoroughly for at least 2 minutes

Form the sausage into patties and use immediately, make it into logs, or stuff it into plastic meat bags.

If you want a spicy sausage, you can add 2 tablespoons of dried red pepper flakes to the mixture. If you do, double the amount of sugar in the recipe.

I really prefer this recipe as a bulk sausage product. I have tried it stuffed into casing and didn't care for the results.

Like all other fresh sausages, this recipe needs to be cooled as soon as it is done. It can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. In my experience, the flavor of the fresh herbs will start to lessen after that time.